Reverse bar actuator for inking ribbon



June 23, 1964 J. COOPER ETAL 3,138,234

REVERSE BAR ACTUATOR FOR INKING RIBBON Filed April 12, 1962 J 27 29 INVENTORS.

Jerome Cooper Henry- G. Frankel BY WHITEHEAD, VOGL 8| LOWE PER Z ATTORNEYS United States. Patent Ofiice 3,133,234 Patented June 23, 1964 r 3,138,234 REVERSE BAR ACTUATOR FOR INKHNTG RIBBQN Jerome Cooper and Henry G. Frankel, Denver, Colo, assignors to Frankel Carbon & Ribbon Company, a corporation of Colorado Filed Apr. 12, 1962, Ser. No. 187,002

Claims. (Cl. 197-172) This invention relates to inking ribbons for data-typing machines which are used in connection with digital type computers and similar automatic equipment, and more particularly to reversible cloth-type inking ribbons for data-typing machines and to the reversing bar actuators associated with such ribbons.

A reversible cloth inking ribbon for data-typing machinery is formed as a continuous strip or web is mounted upon rolls and is aligned for movement from one roll to another in the same direction as the direction of movement of the web or sheet of paper which moves through the typing machine. The ribbon is, therefore, substantially as wide as the paper web so that an entire line of letters and numbers can be typed upon the paper as a single operation. A standard ribbon width for this purpose is 14 inches.

With apparatus capable of typing data a line at a time,

information can be typed upona continuously moving paper web at a high rate of production. At the same time, the inking ribbon must move back and forth across the typing section by winding and unwinding upon and from its rolls, reversing its movement whenever it is substantially unwound from a roll.

The winding operations of the rolls are efl'ected through conventional mechanisms which are reversible and which include reversing levers associated with the ribbon. Ordinarilysuch reversing levers are located alongside the edge of the ribbon near each roll and a reversing bar actuator is mounted upon the ribbon near each end and in a position which contacts and shifts the reversing lever arms when the ribbon is nearly unwound from a roll.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved construction of a reversing actuator bar for an inking ribbon for data-typing machinery.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a novel and improved construction of a reversing bar actuator for a data-typing-rnachine inking ribbon combined with a unique and improved arrangement for mounting the reversing bar actuator upon the ribbon which eliminates the need for special sewing operations or the like to prepare the ribbon for receiving the actuator bar, minimizes the bulk created by mounting the bar uponthe ribbon, permits the bar to be mounted upon the ribbon by quick and inexpensive operations which are compatible with modern production methods, and places the bar upon the ribbon in a manner which is simple, neat and secure.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, all of N which more fully hereinafter appear, our invention comprises certain novel and improved constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts and elements as hereinafter defined, described in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FEGURE 1 is a diagrammatic, sectional portion of datatyping machine of a type which may use the present invention, the figure being illustrative of the manner in which a reversing bar actuator moves against the ribbonwinding reversing lever of the apparatus.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of an inking ribbon having a reversing bar actuator mounted therein in a conventional manner.

FIGURE 3 is a front elevational view of a portion of an inking ribbon mounted upon a roller and having a with the teaching of the present invention.

FIGURE 4 is a rear elevational view of a portion of the ribbon and reversing bar actuatorshown at FIG. 3.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional detail, somewhat diagrammatic in nature, as viewed from the indicated line 55 at FIG. 3 but on an enlarged scale.

FIGURE 6 is a front-elevational exploded view of a portion of the inking ribbon, and of the components forming the reversing bar actuator.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawing, this figure shows one portion of a data-typing machine which types a line at a time. A paper web 10 is adapted to move upwardly through the machine as in the direction of the indicated arrow A. The typing is efiected by a row of striker bars 11 at one side of the paper which move outwardly from a base 12 and against the paper. A print chain 13 is mounted upon end wheels 14 at the opposite side of the paper, and an inking ribbon 15 is interposed between the paper and the print chain to permit ink transfer i'rom the ribbon to the paper by action of the striker bars pressing the paper and ribbon against the characters on the print chain. In operation the print chain moves rapidly and its positioning is interlocked with the striker bars to effect operation of a striker bar against a selected letter or symbol whenever the symbol is in registration with respect to the striker bar. The movement of all parts is so rapid that the operation of typing an entire line is completed in only a fraction of a second. I

At the same time, the ribbon 15 is moving continuously. it passes along a guide face 16 above and below the print chain 13. Thence, each reach of the ribbon extends away from the typing area, over a guide bar 17 and upon a roll '18 or 13a, one roll 13 being above the printing mechanisms and the other roll 18a being below the printing mechanisms as illustrated. These rolls 1% and 18a are mounted upon mechanized shafts 19 and 19a which effect simultaneous winding and unwinding of the ribbon from one roll to the other as by conventional operative mechanisms which are not shown.

The operative mechanisms include suitable reversing levers and in one type of machine, two such levers are used, a lever 20 being conveniently mounted at each side of the ribbon 15 with levers being adapted to operate together. Each reversing lever 20 includes an upstanding arm 21 which extends upwardly and alongside an edge of the ribbon and adjacent to the upper roll 18 and a depending arm Zlgz which extends downwardly andalongside an edge of the ribbon and adjacent to the lower roll 18a. Reversing actuator bars 22 and 22a are affixed to the ribbon 15 with a bar being near each end position of the ribbon. The upper bar 22 is at a position on the ribbon 15 which permits it to extend from the roll 18 and to strike the reversing lever 21 when the ribbon is substantially unwound from that roll and the bar 22:; is at a position on the ribbon which permits it to extend from the roll 13a and strike the reversing lever 21a when the ribbon is substantially unwound from that roll. To accomplish this, each end of each bar extends beyond or over hangs each edge of the ribbon a distance sufiicient to engage it with the proper reversing lever arm 21 or 21a to thereby shift the reversing lever and reverse the direction of the winding and unwinding operations.

Each reversing actuator bar 22 is formed as a flat metal rod or strip having a length approximately one inch greater than the width of the ribbon 15 to provide the overhang above mentioned. The conventional mode of mounting these bars upon the ribbon is to thread them into a piping 23 formed by overlapping a layer of the ribbon and sewing it into position as by stitching 24. Although simple in appearance and suitable in operation, the sewing of the piping is a comparatively expensive operation and the proportions must be such that the actuator bar 22 fits loosely therein or the operation of threading the actuator bar 22 therein becomes quite difficult. In the production of these ribbons where substantial quantities are'manufactured at a time, this operation of forming piping is entirely unsuited to modern assembly methods.

With the above factors in view, the present invention was conceived and developed and comprises an improved and simplified construction of a reversing actuator bar 25 and modified ribbon arrangement to replace the conventional bar, above indicated as 22.

The improved bar 25 illustrated at FIGS. 3 to 6 is similar in proportion to the conventional bar 22 and for a 14-inch ribbon, this bar may be formed as a strip of metal approximately two-tenths of an inch wide, one twentieth of an inch thick, and fifteen inches long to provide for suitable overhang 26 at each side of the ribbon.

The bar is modified, however, by the addition of three orifices 27 which are drilled or punched in the flat face side with one orifice being at the center and the other orifices being about an inch from each end so that they will be located approximately one-half inch from each edge of the ribbon when the bar is centered upon the ribbon.

It is contemplated that this bar will be mounted upon the ribbon by lacing it through holes punched in the ribbon. To prepare the ink ribbon for this purpose, a series of holes 28 is punched through it in a transverse pattern across the face of the ribbon at the location where the bar is to be placed. It is desirable to use an even number, and at least six such holes 28 spaced according to a symmetrical pattern with respect to the center of the ribbon. Furthermore, it is to be noted that these holes shall not register with the locations of the orifices 27 punched in the bar itself, but that they are offset from the orifices. To permit the ink ribbon to lie flatly when the bar is laced into position it is desirable that the diameter of these holes be substantially the same or slightly greater than the width of the bar.

These holes 28 may be formed in a single operation by a simple punch press arrangement of a type which is easily available and easily set up on a production line, and that the cost of punching these holes in the ribbon is negligible.

In accordance with the principles of the invention, once the holes 28 are formed, the bar may be laced upon the ribbon by threading it through these holes from one side of the ribbon to the other side and back to a final symmetrical balanced position thereon.

Once so positioned, the bar is then secured to the ribbon by eyelets 29 including a center eyelet and an eyelet at each end of the bar which are extended through each of the orifices 27 in the bar and upset or riveted in place. Again, this operation of fastening eyelets may be accomplished by a simple conventional apparatus which would include three appropriately-positioned eyelet-setting units to complete the operation in a single movement. The ribbon 15 itself need not be prepared ahead of time to facilitate this operation of setting eyelets because in conventional eyelet-setting apparatus, eyelets will be punched through the ribbon automatically as they are set.

It is to be further noted that this operation of punching holes, lacing the reversing bar actuator in position and affixing it to the ribbon by eyelets 29 may be accomplished as a regular step in a production operation of preparing and packaging rolls of ribbon for industrial use.

We have now described our invention in considerable detail. However, it is obvious that others skilled in the art can build and devise alternate and equivalent constructions which are within the spirit and scope of the invention. Hence, we desire that our protection be limited, not by the constructions illustrated and described but only by the proper scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A wide-web inking ribbon for a data-typing machine adapted to be mounted upon a pair of reversing rolls for alternate winding and unwinding upon and from the rolls responsive to the shifting of a reversing bar means and including, in combination therewith, a reversing bar actuator near each end of the ribbon, wherein each reversing bar actuator consists of a narrow, flat, rigid member transversely disposed across the ribbon, having an end extending beyond an edge of the ribbon to contact a re versing bar means, a transversely disposed array of holes in the ribbon through which the reversing bar actuator is laced from one side of the ribbon to the other to per mit it to be carried in the ribbon and means for affixing the reversing bar actuator to the surface of the ribbon near each edge of the ribbon.

2. In the combination defined in claim 1, wherein the means for affixing the reversing bar actuator to the ribbon comprises rivet-like members mounted on the reversing bar actuator to extend through the ribbon with an enlarged head thereon adapted to effectively hold the ribbon against the actuator.

3. In the combination defined in claim 1, wherein the means for affixing the reversing bar actuator to the ribbon comprises eyelets extended through the reversing bar actuator and through the ribbon with the ends thereof being upset to effectively bind the ribbon to the reversing bar actuator.

4. In the combination defined in claim 1, wherein the holes in the ribbon are circular and are slightly greater in diameter than the width of the reversing bar actuator with the total number of holes being an even number and with the holes being arranged in a symmetrical pattern at each side of the center of the ribbon whereby to place both ends of the reversing bar actuator at the same side of the ribbon.

5. In the combination defined in claim 1, including a means for aflixing the center of the reversing bar actuator to the ribbon to supplement attachment means near each edge of the ribbon.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A WIDE-WEB INKING RIBBON FOR A DATA-TYPING MACHINE ADAPTED TO BE MOUNTED UPON A PAIR OF REVERSING ROLLS FOR ALTERNATE WINDING AND UNWINDING UPON AND FROM THE ROLLS RESPONSIVE TO THE SHIFTING OF A REVERSING BAR MEANS AND INCLUDING, IN COMBINATION THEREWITH, A REVERSING BAR ACTUATOR NEAR EACH END OF THE RIBBON, WHEREIN EACH REVERSING BAR ACTUATOR CONSISTS OF A NARROW, FLAT, RIGID MEMBER TRANSVERSELY DISPOSED ACROSS THE RIBBON, HAVING AN END EXTENDING BEYOND AN EDGE OF THE RIBBON TO CONTACT A REVERSING BAR MEANS, A TRANSVERSELY DISPOSED ARRAY OF HOLES IN THE RIBBON THROUGH WHICH THE REVERSING BAR ACTUATOR IS LACED FROM ONE SIDE OF THE RIBBON TO THE OTHER TO PERMIT IT TO BE CARRIED IN THE RIBBON AND MEANS FOR AFFIXING THE REVERSING BAR ACTUATOR TO THE SURFACE OF THE RIBBON NEAR EACH EDGE OF THE RIBBON. 